A Winning Wedding Website

Ok, so now that we've covered the technicalities of making a wedding website work in my previous post (redirects, masking, etc.) ... onward with content! Obviously, this is just how we created our website. There are things that I wish we did differently and things that I really like about our site. Hopefully, this will help those of you in the midst of building your own fantabulous sites!

As I mentioned in my past post... I can't say this enough: As soon as you set up your URL, have a few friends try to get to the site from different computers BEFORE you set up all your content. If the URL is tricky or prone to problems due to the company you chose... it's good to know that early on, before you spend hours slaving away at your computer. (but I'm not bitter.) :)

We picked a wedding website service where I could just select a design theme and then enter text and pictures - one where we could use tools like RSVP, Guest Music Requests, etc. Mr. Snapdragon COULD have designed and built our own site... but that just seemed like a can 'o worms. Many props to those of you who started from scratch!!!

Our site includes a Welcome Page, Our Story, Bride and Groom, Bridal Party, Grooms' Party, Ceremony/Reception Info, Accommodations/Directions, Local Activities/Dining, Guestbook, Contact Us, Online RSVP, Music Requests, and Registry. SHEESH - it is now clear why our wedding website took two months to finish: the Snapdragons are apparently masochists. However, the site is attractive and informative and pretty user-friendly, which is an accomplishment, at least!

We used candid photos where we could - not the least of our reasons being that we don't have engagement photos yet (!) ... but I think candid actually can be much more emotionally accessible and show a couple as they really are - without fancy lighting. Sometimes not looking your absolute best actually is better, in my opinion anyway! This is not always the case, but it can be something to think about. People appreciate it when you are yourself. There's a lot blurred out from these screenshots, but you should get the general idea.....

For the "Party Pages," we wrote fun bios/tributes to each one of our brides-babes and misters. We also included three photos of each of them that showed off their personalities. If they are married and had their own wedding picture, we included that too. My favorite (!) part of our pages is that right at the top, we wrote about our parents and then included a picture from their respective wedding days, and then a picture from their most recent anniversaries.

Another handy part of our website has been the Guest Music Request page. We hired a DJ that we totally trust to gig our wedding without us feeding him every single song. He is a pro! However, it still helps him to have an idea what we are all into - our guests are BIG-TIME on the dancing... so we have already been getting music requests.

The last major thing I'd say about our website was that we put a lot of work into the Accommodations/Directions/Activities/Dining info... We have so many people flying and driving in from out of town, and our wedding's on a Friday, so... this was especially important. We are really proud of our city, and we want people to be able to enjoy it while they are here! Mister Snapdragon and I listed our favorite places, and why we love them - hopefully, this will help our guests out quite a bit!

Later on, we'll be updating our site with Wedding Events and other things that our guests will need to know about. We tried to make our site really focused on our guests - I have always loved the weddings I've attended where the bride and groom were superconsiderate and welcoming to their guests - and we are trying our best to do the same!

So in conclusion, even though this site made me curse my computer out [yes, mom, I curse sometimes ;) ] it was ABSOLUTELY worth it. Our guests are already using it, leaving messages in the guestbook, and bookin' their hotel rooms. I highly recommend going tech-savvy with your wedding!